Newsletter 2014

Harpswell Historical Society Newsletter Fall 2014 www.harpswellhistorical.org [email protected] www.facebook.com/harpswellhistoricalsociety The Harpswell Historical Society is dedicated to the discovery, identification, collection, preservation, interpretation, and dissemination of materials relating to the history of Harpswell and its people.

Laddie Whidden Reminisces by Louise Huntington Laddie Whidden traces his ancestry on his mother’s side back to Andrew and Benjamin Dunning, members of the early Harpswell community back in the middle of the 18th century. The home of Deacon Andrew Dunning is the handsome old house we all see as we take the Mountain Road between Route 24 and Route 123, and look south. The home was built in 1757 and has been a landmark ever since. Benjamin Dunning was a magistrate who served as an Overseer of Bowdoin College from 1800 until 1808. Another ancestor, Joseph Ewing, from Scotland, owned a tract of land on Sebascodegan Island on the shores of what would become known as Ewing Narrows. The town maintained a ferry here in the 1700’s so the people could cross over to the Neck and attend church at the Old Meeting House, which was the first church. The records show that two of the ferry tenders were Alexander Ewing and another was Henry Barnes. Laddie, whose real name is Malcolm B. Whidden, Jr., was born in 1931 in Cundy’s Harbor. His family moved to Brunswick when he was three years old and lived there for two years. His father, Malcolm, worked as a millwright at the Cabot Mill. As Laddie grew up the family moved to Harpswell Neck where he attended the Harpswell Center School except for two years when some of the grades went to West Harpswell. He and Hannah (Norton) Dring were the only two people in his class for a number of years. After finishing 8th grade, he attended Brunswick High School where he took the shop course, an excellent fit for a person with his strong abilities in mechanics and building. Contents After finishing high school in 1949, Laddie worked with his father trawling Laddie Whidden Reminisces...... 1 in the spring and also at several jobs that Laddie Whidden to the Rescue ...... 2 included boat building and construc- Memories of Ice Harvesting ...... 3 tion. He served four years in the Navy Outhouse Needed!...... 5 as a machinist’s mate. During that time, Betty Bailey Behanna...... 5 when he could get home, he worked on What Harpswell Means To Me...... 6 a thirty-foot lobster boat that he had set Help Us Cut Our Costs...... 7 up outdoors by his father’s shop. It didn’t HHS Annual Meeting - get finished until he got home for good. August 20, 2014...... 7 Whidden, continued on p. 2, Whidden, continued from page 1 Laddie Whidden Laddie met his future wife Kay at the urging of her to the Rescue younger brother. They built their home on property by Evangeline Sparks owned by Laddie’s father on Clark Shore Road where Laddie Whidden’s ser- many family members now live. They have two children: vice to the community Rhonda, born in 1958, and Clayton, born five years later. started way before he be- During the fifties and early sixties there were two came a town Selectman. attempts to separate the town. The first was when Evangeline Morse Sparks the Navy lengthened the runways at the Naval Air remembers when, at the age Station. This caused the Middle Bay Road, as well of six, she and two friends, as a new road that connected with Route 24, to be Ellen and Carol Bibber, closed. Committees were formed to see if the Navy were playing down by the or Federal Government would fund the building of brook on the Allen Point a bridge. As Laddie says, “It didn’t get anywhere.” Road in West Harpswell. It A move to separate the town in two was made but was at the edge of darkness did not pass, but there were a lot of hard feelings one wintery day. Vange de- in town. cided to try walking across The second effort at separation was caused by the the brook that ran from building of an addition to the new school on Great under the road near Roy’s Island while they were still using the two old schools at Corner. Often the dare dev- West Harpswell and North Harpswell. Although this il in the group, she went for made economic sense, a lot of people were very upset. it. After taking several steps The second separation move failed, but according to onto the mushy surface, she Laddie it left half of the people in town not speaking started sinking into the icy with the other half. water midway across. Lad- Two local citizens on Harpswell Neck identified die, a high school student, their friend Laddie as a potential and much-needed happened to be passing by peace-maker who had connections on both sides of the brook and came to her town. Laddie says that one day, Henry Barnes and rescue with some difficulty. Ned Frost came to his door with nomination papers She admits to her near for selectman, all filled out. It was 1962, and Laddie panic and her gratefulness won that election. In 1966 the first money was set to Laddie. She recalls that aside in a sinking fund at Town Meeting to build what he didn’t scold her and in would become the Mountain Road and a bridge over fact said nothing. Ewing Narrows. Eventually, using funds from the state, the county, and the town, the bridge was built, uniting the town geographically, and opening up the stunning view we should never take for granted. Laddie served as selectman for the next 26 years, as his long-suffering wife kept wondering when he would ever retire. Among other things, Laddie is a fisherman, carpenter, and mechanic, and he is possessed of a strong love for his town and a deep sense of duty. He is also blessed with an incredible memory. People in town remember him as a completely unflappable selectman, a person who didn’t speak until the moment was right. He could clarify the most tangled legal problems with fewer words than any of us could think of. He had a real sense for doing the right thing for the good of the town. His evenhandedness, year after year, helped Harpswell weather a lot of storms.

Whidden continued on page 3 Page 2 Whidden, continued from p. 2 Memories of Ice Harvesting During Laddie’s years as selectman, by Pat Moody many new families moved to town. From In 1998, my 3rd and 4th grade stu- being a quiet old-fashioned fishing town, dents at West Harpswell School had the it was turning into a very mixed modern opportunity to interview several Harp- community. At the same time, town gov- swell residents. The project was funded ernment was becoming quite complex as by the Annenberg Rural Challenge Grant. state and federal regulations multiplied. Two other teachers, Martha Burtt and Operating from the Town Office in the Ken Bedder, from the Harpswell Island two small rooms upstairs in the Old School also worked on the project. Their Meeting House was challenging. There students interviewed people from Orr’s, was hardly room to spread out the tax Bailey, and Great Island, and my students maps on the office work table. Desks and talked to people on Harpswell Neck. The office equipment were cheek by jowl, and interviews were taped, and at a later time it was a challenge for the office person- the students wrote about the people that nel to maneuver in that crowded space. they had interviewed. Stories from both Furthermore, the Old Meeting House sides were then compiled in a booklet has no plumbing to this day. (which is available at the Historical Eventually the inevitable occurred, Society). and a committee was established to plan One of the people interviewed was a modern building for conducting the Arnold LeMay. Arnie is no longer living, town’s business. No longer would taxes but at the time of the interview he was be paid at Beverly Bibber’s house or voter 81 years old and well known to many registrations be recorded at Clara Mer- Harpswell people. My own first meeting riman’s home upstairs at Garrison Hill with Arnie was when I was 3 years old Farm, nor would legal documents be and was asked to be a flower girl at Arnie’s filled out at Frances Johnson’s kitchen wedding. At that time, Arnie’s bride, Vir- table. At last, in 1987, the new Town ginia, was a neighbor of mine. The only Office was built on town land beside details of the wedding that I remember Strawberry Creek. It was the end of an are totally self-centered – wearing a pretty era, and Laddie retired in 1988. dress and having little sandwiches, cake, More recently, Laddie and many oth- and punch after the ceremony. er town residents worked long and hard My reason for including Arnie in our to clarify the ancient boundary between interviews was that I felt it would be an the towns of Harpswell and Brunswick. opportunity for my students to learn In spite of the group’s best efforts that about ice harvesting in Harpswell, an im- included research into centuries-old re- portant industry in its time, but one that cords in Boston, relevant official authori- is unfamiliar to most children of today. ties decided against any change, and the We learned that the LeMay family group had to resort to placing a marker started their ice business during the 1880s. along Route 123 to show the original There were no electric refrigerators and boundary line across the Neck. ice was needed to keep food cold. Many For many years, Laddie has raised people owned iceboxes. Iceboxes were and lowered the flag at the Old Meeting made of wood and were usually lined with House every day. He has replaced the zinc. A big chunk of ice was put in the flags as they’ve worn out. This dedica- top part of the box. As the ice melted, the tion is a testament to the example he has set for us. Ice, continued on p. 4, Page 3 Ice, continued from p. 3 cold year, ice could be harvested more than once during the same year. water would go into a pipe and then There were ten to fourteen men in an flow into a pan at the bottom of the ice harvesting crew. Some of the Harp- icebox. If the icebox was in the shed, the swell men that worked at LeMay’s pond water sometimes went into the ground. were the Bibbers, Merrimans, Chipmans, Arnie mentioned that if people didn’t and Allens. Arnold’s mother was the only own an icebox, they sometimes kept food woman that helped. cool by putting ice with it into a pail and In describing the harvesting process, lowering it into a dug well or cold stream. Arnie told us that the harvesters started by The LeMays delivered ice to all parts using a board to make a straight line down of Harpswell Neck and people came to the center of the pond. Sharp grooves the family home to buy ice. The LeMays were then made in the ice. They used an also provided ice for the Auburn Colony, instrument that tipped to make a guide Merriconeag House, Guernsey Villa, mark to the next groove. To cut the ice Ocean View Hotel, and Lookout Point they used a saw with teeth that were about House. The price of the ice was decided a foot long. They were then able to use a upon by the weight and thickness. Arnie bar on the grooves and could get blocks remembered it being two cents a pound, of ice that were even and uniform in size. but the price may have been different at The blocks were 22 inches wide and 44 other times. Some larger ice businesses inches long. The weight of the blocks was supplied fishing vessels with ice to keep 250 to 300 pounds, depending upon the fish fresh while it was being transported thickness of the ice. for sale in cities, but the LeMays weren’t As the ice was cut, it was pulled out of involved in that part of the business. the pond by a horse. A rope on a pulley The LeMays lived on the Shore Acres was attached to the horse and went to a Road which is near the present Harpswell hook that was on the blocks of ice. The Neck post office. Arnie’s parents were horse walked along the edge of the pond Grace and Edgar LeMay. He had two and drew the ice into the ice house where brothers, Edward and Lewis, and two it was stored. The LeMay’s ice house had sisters, Dora and Lillian. At the time of a space between the walls of the ice house our interview, Arnie was living in the and the ice. The ice was stacked and cov- same house in which he was born and ered with sawdust. This method kept the brought up. At that time the house was ice from melting throughout the summer. about 235 years old. The pond next Arnie told us that he really enjoyed to the house provided the ice for the cutting ice because it was something LeMay’s business. It was truly a family different to do and it was also a social business as even the children had their time. However, he did say that it could ice chores. At age 9 or 10, Arnie started sometimes be dangerous because someone to help with the cleaning of the pond, could fall in the pond or get hit by a block and by age 14 or 15, he joined in the of ice. He recalled a time when George harvesting of the ice. Allen fell in the pond and his clothes Arnie told us that the pond had to were frozen like ice. George went into be kept clean from snow because leaving the LeMay’s house for a while and then snow on the pond would produce soft ice. was taken home. The ice had to be at least a foot to fifteen We learned from Arnie that there were or eighteen inches thick before it could other places in Harpswell that harvested be harvested. It took two days to harvest ice. There were some people that harvest- the ice from the pond. During a really ed ice for their own use. He mentioned Page 4 the Will Dunning and Lawrence Betty Bailey Behanna Merriman families who harvested ice We received the following let- for use on their farms. Fred Miller, who ter from Betty Bailey Behanna in owned an inn, also harvested his own ice. response to Louise Huntington’s ar- Ed Hayes Moody on Basin Point sold ticle “Walther Norton Reminisces” and delivered ice the same as the LeMays. in our last issue of the Newsletter. On the other side of town, a lot of ice Your Summer issue of the Newsletter’s was produced at Dingley Island. article about the Norton family brought Arnold LeMay continued to help many memories of Harpswell back to with the family ice harvesting for several me. My Bailey family has a long history years after he was married. The family in Harpswell dating back to October stopped ice harvesting in the early fifties. 27, 1755, when Jacob Bailey of North By then most people had electric refrig- Yarmouth purchased land on Basin erators and not much ice was needed. It Point from Henry Gibbs of New Town, was the end of the LeMay business and Massachusetts. His land included most the end of an era. of Basin Point from the basin down to the end of the Point. Over the years and Outhouse Needed! many generations, portions of the land We are looking for an outhouse for were sold, with the end of the Point sold the 19th Century Harpswell schoolhouse to the Green family of Troy, NY and the behind Centennial Hall for use when we land from Half Way Gate (access road to begin our one-room school house history Barnes Island) and down the hill to the ac- program there next year. Based on the cess road to the Mill Pond to the Wooley experiences of participants in history family of Massachusetts. By 1940, the programs at one-room school houses in land remaining in the Bailey family was other towns, use of an outhouse is often owned by my uncle, Raymond Bailey, Sr. one of the more popular opportunities In 1946, at the end of World War II, for students. If you know of a lonely, Uncle Ray sold a shore lot to my parents, unused and unwanted outhouse, please Albert and Phyllis Bailey, for $50, and our contact Dave Hackett at 207-833-6322. family cottage was built during the spring of 1947. George Norton, Walter’s father, was contracted to build our fireplace, and Harry Stevens of Ash Cove was the carpen- ter. I have fond memories of Mr. Norton arriving for work in his old (1920’s) Ford truck, coming down over the hill, which was still a dirt road with a grass center. I remember well when Helen Norton’s family purchased Barnes Island. It was wonder- ful to see lights on again over there. I also remember when many young men returned from the War, including the Bowdoin Students help paint the school house on Common Good Day Bailey, continued on page 7 Page 5 What Harpswell Means To Me there, and I feel that it really paid off. I think working there improved both my By Michael Abreu work ethic even more and helped to cre- I was born and raised on Bailey Is- ate a positive attitude when challenged land, surrounded by a large extended with difficult tasks. Working for Glen’s family and a strong sense of community. Lobsters was not easy, but I loved it. My family and its ancestors have lived on Bailey Island and Harpswell are Bailey Island for generations. Every day, beautiful during the summers, and while my family and ancestors would go out working I was able to enjoy it all day long. onto the water, no matter the weather or But after work, I continued to enjoy the conditions, and worked as hard as they many great aspects that Harpswell offers. could to make a living for their families. Being able to go out on the skiff that my Having grown up in this environment, grandfather, Peter Rogers, built with his I think that my work ethic is part of my bare hands is one of the greatest feelings DNA and is ingrained in me. in the world. With this skiff my family Every summer for the past three years, and I also went to a little island called I worked for Glen’s Lobsters, the local Jaquish off of Land’s End. On Jaquish lobster buyer on Bailey Island. Working we had cookouts, went swimming, and there was a great experience for me. I even sometimes spent the night. It was was able to learn more about my roots such a great adventure, and it is definitely and connect with my community. But something everyone should be able to working there is no easy job. During my experience. time working for them, I had multiple Living in Harpswell has turned me coworkers. Most of them either quit or into the person I am today, and I am very were fired. Working for Glen’s Lobsters grateful for being able to grow up and live was a very physical job that included here. It has taught me good work ethics working in the sun all day and lifting and and determination while also teaching me moving heavy objects. My job includes how to enjoy life. buying lobsters, crating lobsters, load- ing the crates onto lobster trucks, and Editor’s note: Michael Abreu is currently unloading bait trucks. The last of these a freshman at Northeastern University. This tasks was most difficult. Bait trucks can is an edited version of an essay he wrote take up to two hours in which around earlier this year. 100 barrels of bait are filled. The beginning of my first year, I did not do all that much. I was a freshman in high school and very little was expected of me. But as time went on, I became a more and more valuable part of Glen’s Lob- sters. I soon worked my way up to work- ing over 40 hours a week. I worked as hard as I could while

Page 6 Bailey, continued from p. 5 HHS Annual Meeting - Norton boys and my cousins, Ray August 20, 2014 Jr. and Bill Bailey and my brother, Don President Dave Hackett welcomed Bailey. members to Centennial Hall for the We needed to furnish the cottage, and 36th annual meeting of the Harpswell when there was an estate sale at a home Historical Society on August 20 and on Hurricane Ridge, Potts Pt., my mother observed also that it was the 14th and I went over to see what we might year of the Society’s History Museum. use. She purchased a very old washstand Dave noted that during the past year made of pumpkin pine to use as an end Harpswell friends and residents had table. The top of the stand was in very generously transferred a number poor condition and, when she showed it of important town artifacts to the to Mr. Norton, he told her he had some museum, including the 1872 diary old wide pumpkin pine boards in his barn of a 15 year old Harpswell teenager; and offered to take it home and repair it. Native American pottery shards from He returned it in beautiful condition, Graveyard Point in South Harpswell; and she enjoyed having it for many years. the water jug from a one room school In 1975, my parents sold their place house on Bailey Island; a thick Katie and moved to Rochester, NH, taking the Allen family scrapbook of Harpswell washstand along with them. I inherited news articles and memorabilia from it in 1988 and took it to Albany, NY the 1940s and 50s; a portrait of Capt. and then on to Sarasota, FL when my Shubael Merriman who sailed around husband and I retired. Eventually, it the world in the 1800s; a KKK robe will return to Maine, in Bar Harbor, from when the movement existed not Harpswell, when it is inherited by in Harpswell for a short time dur- my niece, Linda Bailey Blasen. Thanks ing the 1920s; and the uniform that to Mr. Norton, I have a little piece of Arnie LeMay wore while playing for Harpswell to help me remember my the Harpswell Baseball Team a half a wonderful summers there. century ago. Best regards to all who are fortunate Dave told members about up- enough to live in my favorite place. coming plans to transfer valuable Bette Bailey Behanna oral histories about the town from Sarasota, FL deteriorating cassette tapes to more modern, longer-lasting media. He Help Us Cut Our Costs also highlighted plans to begin his- tory programs for students next year We appeal to at the centuries-old one-room District readers to send their #2 school house now located behind email addresses Centennial Hall. to harpshistory@ gmail.com so they The guest speaker at the meeting can receive their was Linda Novak, a historical archae- HHS newsletter ologist and the director/curator of Old by email. It would Fort Western in Augusta. She spoke help us save postage, printing expenses, about the history of Fort Western and and time for the volunteers who must local life and trade at the fort as reflect- individually fold, address, stamp, and ed in its five account books from the mail each hard copy. You will receive period 1767 -1807. For more, go to the newsletter in color, too. Thank you! http://www.oldfortwestern.org Page 7

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